Yesterday, Representative Lois Capps (D-CA) introduced the National Sustainable Offshore Aquaculture Act of 2009. This legislation establishes the first legally-binding national standards for how fish farming should be conducted in the open-ocean. There are currently no overarching policies or laws governing how this method of fish farming should be governed in America’s territorial waters, generally beyond three miles from the coastline. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has said it will offer its own national aquaculture policy early in 2010.

“It’s time to set a standard for open-ocean aquaculture, and the National Sustainable Offshore Aquaculture Act is an important step. The legislation offers a science-based precautionary approach including overarching environmental, socioeconomic, and liability standards,” explained George Leonard, Ocean Conservancy’s aquaculture program director. “We need a strong national framework for marine aquaculture before expansion occurs in our federal ocean waters, and Congresswoman Capps is to be commended for showing leadership on this important national issue.”

“My legislation represents a huge step forward in our efforts to establish a comprehensive regulatory framework for offshore aquaculture development that balances environmental, social, and economic concerns,” said Congresswoman Lois Capps (D-CA). “I believe that by working together we can create a common sense framework that ensures that offshore aquaculture development proceeds in an ecologically sustainable fashion. We have a good model for doing this in my home state of California, which recently enacted landmark legislation on this topic. I believe this type of balanced, comprehensive and precautionary approach will work in California, and my legislation seeks to accomplish similar goals at the national level.”

Highlights of the legislation include:

• Ensuring aquaculture development in federal waters adopts the precautionary approach as its guiding principle and establishes a priority for the protection of wild fish, associated habitats, and functional marine ecosystems.
• Articulating legally-binding national standards that ensure that offshore aquaculture poses minimal risks to fisheries, marine wildlife, and the ecosystems on which they depend, protects the long-term public interest in healthy marine ecosystems, and incorporates appropriate public input.
• Anticipating and preventing cumulative and secondary impacts from expansion of a marine aquaculture industry.
• Integrating offshore aquaculture development into the nation’s broader national ocean policy, including the Administration’s move toward ecosystem-based management and marine spatial planning.
• Rendering null-and-void all regulatory structures previously approved (Gulf aquaculture FMP).

In January of 2009, the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council developed the first federal permitting program for open ocean aquaculture, setting a dangerous precedent. The plan was later approved by NOAA. Read More